The Royal

The Royal is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the staff at the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", an NHS hospital serving the fictional rural seaside town of Elsinby and its surrounding area. The programme began originally as a spin-off of ITV's period drama series Heartbeat, featuring crossovers with the programme from some of its cast in the first three series. At the start of the fourth series, the cross-over elements were removed, and the series focused primarily with stories involving its own cast.

The series initially began with its cast including Ian Carmichael, Wendy Craig, Robert Daws and Amy Robbins, but gradually expanded with new actors taking the place of others as they left the programme; some taking over to only appear in one series. Much of the outdoor scenes were primarily shot within North Yorkshire, including within Whitby and Scarborough, with interior shots filmed at both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford. The programme remained popular on television until its cancellation, generating its own spin-off, The Royal Today, with episodes later repeated on ITV3.